SPG points expiry date ???

[Zoe Nguyen]

I have about 5k SPG points earned since Feb 2011 (hotel booking). I read the SPG website, in order for my account to be activated, I need to earn Starpoints in the 12 months period.

Can I just go to a Starwood hotel purchasing a meal, pay and redeem SPG, will it count as an activity ? Or rent the car at Avis (which I can redeem 50 SPG points per day) ?

Thanks

 

[serfty]

Any stay will keep them alive.

3.2. You will be considered an "Active Member" so long as (a) your Membership has not been cancelled (by you or us), and (b) you have had an Eligible Stay at a Participating Property within the previous 12 months, or (c) you have earned Starpoints by using a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card during the previous 12 months. Starpoints resulting from transfers or earnings from Program affiliates do not count toward active status. Owners are not subject to the Eligible Stay requirement and will continue to be considered an Active Member as long as they own their Vacation Ownership interest and maintain their Starwood Vacation Ownership account in good standing.

Since I rarely stay at SPG properties (if so, it'd likely be an ineligible stay anyway) I move my points on (normally to AA).

FWIW, in reality there seems to be little if any actual expiration done on SPG accounts unless completely dormant for several years. YMMV

 

[ric_melb]

Starwood do require specified account activity once every 12 months. From my experience this means one form of account activity every calendar year, but given you stayed in February 2011, I would be looking at some activity by February 2012.
The simplest way is to have a meal at a Starwood Hotel, pay by credit card and hand them your SPG card for points to be added to your account.
No redemption is involved in this transaction.
Another alternative is to rent an Avis car, as OP says, however 50 points for a day's rental is hardly worth it!

 

[Zoe Nguyen]

thanks, I have just done that. My KF has 18k points, do we have expiry date for them ? Oops

 

[k3nnis]

Is transferring from AMEX MR to SPG counted as activity?

 

[samh004]

Is transferring from AMEX MR to SPG counted as activity?

Unless it’s a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card, I would say no, reading up above what serfty posted: Starpoints resulting from transfers or earnings from Program affiliates do not count toward active status.

 

[kyle]

Starwood do require specified account activity once every 12 months. From my experience this means one form of account activity every calendar year, but given you stayed in February 2011, I would be looking at some activity by February 2012.
The simplest way is to have a meal at a Starwood Hotel, pay by credit card and hand them your SPG card for points to be added to your account.
No redemption is involved in this transaction.
Another alternative is to rent an Avis car, as OP says, however 50 points for a day's rental is hardly worth it!

The terms and conditions do say 'Eligible stay', don't they? I don't think having a meal is a stay.

Can anyone confirm?

 

[samh004]

The terms and conditions do say 'Eligible stay', don't they? I don't think having a meal is a stay.

Can anyone confirm?

I usually have afternoon tea at my local Sheraton to keep my points alive

 

[ric_melb]

If you consult Flyer Talk the Starwood Lurker has confirmed that having a meal qualifies as an Eligible Stay for the purposes of keeping membership current.

 

[Zoe Nguyen]

I extended my points expiry date unexpectedly.

As mentioned, I traveled in feb11, used another spg account, and lost the card ( it was given to me by reception at check out). I recently applied another account online, and tried to redeem my points from the old card.

I chatted with one of CS through their online chatting service, she looked and found my points in another card, and combined the 2 cards, by doing this, my points was also extended up to " the new card' s expiry date" which is sep-12. If anyone is desperate, it might worth a try.